Thales and Boeing perform successful flight of 'SDAM' VTOL UAV »

ByJean-Michel Guhl
14 June 2011

The Boeing MH-6 Little Bird — a modern version of the legacy US Army Hughes OH-6 'Loach' — is demonstrating very promising performances in the role of a rotorcraft UAV. © US Navy

Neuilly sur Seine, France, 14 June 2011 —– Thales and its partner Boeing today announced that they have successfully achieved the full automatic landing of a one tonne class VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) UAV. The automatic landing was carried out on the back of a moving trailer, representing the movement of a ship's deck, as this UAV is intended to address the future French Système de Drone Aérien de la Marine (SDAM) on-board ships at sea.

The flight tests took place in the USA at the New Mexico SpacePort, using Boeing's Unmanned Little Bird (ULB) air vehicle. These test showed that the demonstrator, based on the MAGIC ATOLS automatic take-off and landing system developed by Thales, is able at any given time, to provide the relative position of the drone in relation to the platform and ensure flight guidance and control with a better accuracy than GPS.

The system operates at a long range independently of GPS signals, in all weather conditions. Innovation-driven, this system offers a unique level of security and redundancy to allow certification. It thus enables UAV landings with no external pilot – a key advantage for both Army and Navy operations. The flight trials will continue over the following weeks – this time with the demonstrator fitted on to a 3 axis-moving table representing the movements of the ship's deck.

	U.S. Marines look at an Unmanned Little Bird (ULB) helicopter on 16 June 2009, in Bridgeport, California, during exercise Javelin Thrust-09 with the Marine Forces Reserve. The ULB drone, a smaller version of the manned A/MH-6M Little Bird helicopter, has a 300-pound lift capacity and can be eventually flown by a pilot. The helicopter, which may be used for multiple missions, including automatic resupply and casualty evacuations, was tested and evaluated with success by the Marine Corps, thus leading the way to several new programmes, including the French SDAM. © U.S. Marine Corps

The MAGIC ATOLs system draws on extensive experience gained from the UK's Watchkeeper drone programme, for which it was qualified in 2008. The Watchkeeper is Europe's most ambitious surveillance and intelligence UAS programme. MAGIC ATOLS is an accurate automatic and compact system which ensures maximum safety, in all weather conditions, during the critical take-off and landing phases of fixed wing or rotary wing UAV operations. MAGIC ATOLS' non-intrusive standalone architecture ensures quick and simple integration into any existing type of UAV system. In addition, the reduced logistic footprint allows quick and easy deployment compatible with land forces operations. The high precision and long range positioning sensor performance paves the way forward for future application on MALE as well as tactical rotary wing UAVs.

The current ATOLS sub-system has been fully developed by Thales in France with the involvement of several innovative SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises). This system is part of the UAV avionics equipment suite developed by Thales for UAVs to ensure their flight safety and airspace insertion: ATOLS, Sense & Avoid, FMSS, GPS/Galileo – inertial Navigation systems. Thales had selected Boeing's Unmanned Little Bird (ULB) Demonstrator to support this vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) definition study contract back in 2007.

Thales chose the versatile ULB, an unmanned variant of the Boeing A/MH-6M Little Bird military helicopter, for its compact size, mission flexibility, good payload capacity, performance and proven unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capability demonstrated during evaluation with the US Navy and US Marine Corps during the past years.

A close up view of the Unmanned Little Bird rotorcraft drone showing the navigation and observation FLIR ball in front and the two lateral containers which could be used to carry ELINT and EW jamming equipment, for instance. © U.S. Marine Corps

Source: Thales

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